Self calibrating weapon shot counter

ABSTRACT

A microcontroller operated module is affixed to a fire arm. The module includes an accelerometer for measuring the G force of each round fired by the firearm, a flash memory (non-volatile memory) for storing the shot profile data that includes shot count and recoil data and transmitting it to a remote location such as a remote computer via a serial communication device pursuant to RS232 standard, Bluetooth, awave or other low power RF transmitter. The module including a wake up circuit adapted to switch upon detection of a fired shot to signal said microcontroller to initialize a low power mode to activate said MEMS accelerometer faster than said accelerometer would activate by itself.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation in part application of U.S. Ser. No. 12/380,375filed on Feb. 26, 2009 and claims priority under 35 USC 120. U.S.application Ser. No. 12/380,375 is a non-provisional application of aprovisional application Ser. No. 61/067,294 filed Feb. 27, 2008.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to a self calibrating weapon shot counterwith a wake up circuit. In particular, the present disclosure relates toa self calibrating weapon shot counter that has a module operated by amicrocontroller for collecting, storing and transmitting data to acomputer, PDA or other electronic device, preferably remotely locatedfrom the firearm. The data collected and transmitted by the selfcalibrating weapons shot counter of the present disclosure includes shotprofile data, including recoil in both directions, rotational axissensor data and duration of shot, identifying type of weapon, roundfired, i.e caliber and weight and barrel length. The time, date andprofile of the shot fired is also recorded and transmitted to the remotecomputer. The present disclosure provides for an active RFID tagcommunication port that listens for, records the data and sends it to aremote location. The weapon shot counter of the present disclosure iscapable of being interchanged from one weapon to another. The weaponshot counter can also be used as an ancillary munitions recognitionsystem .i.e. hand grenades, high explosive, fragmentary, incendiary,chemical and smoke as well as claymore mines utilized by same user asweapon counting device. In this type of use the weapon shot counter ofthe present disclosure acts as a repeater gathering the data from thethrown hand grenades, upon spoon release the chip in the hand grenade ischarged by an onboard generator that sends out the serial number to theWeapon shot counter that in turn sends it on to the PDA, identifying thegrenade or other munitions that had been used. In this way, the presentdisclosure provides for real time information as to munitions usage,which can be transmitted to support personnel allowing for timelyresupply of munitions. This was previously unheard of as it isunderstood that no previous weapon shot counter discussed this featureor capability and is unique to the self-calibrating weapons shot counterof the present disclosure.

The present disclosure provides for a wake up circuit to resolve theproblem of when an accelerometer does not wake up fast enough to capturethe entire energy pulse, a common problem associated with off the shelfaccelerometers. The wake up circuit can be a normally closed G switch(gravity switch) with a quicker response than that of the accelerometer8 employed in the present disclosure. The G switch 80 also provides forpower conservation due as it is a mechanically triggered switch.

2. The Prior Art

U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,486 to Brinkley discloses a firearm monitor devicefor counting a number of rounds discharged.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to a microcontroller operated moduleaffixed to a fire arm. The module includes a MEMS accelerometer formeasuring the G force of each round fired by the firearm. The G force ismeasured simultaneously in two axes, in line with the recoil and incross-rotational axis in both directions. The weapons shot counter ofthe present disclosure includes a flash memory (non-volatile memory) forstoring the shot profile data that includes shot count and recoil data.The flash memory transmits the shot profile data to a remote locationsuch as a remote computer via a serial communication device such as butnot limited to an RFID device pursuant to RS232 standard, Bluetooth,awave or other low power RF transmitter.

The present disclosure provides for a wake up circuit adapted to switchupon detection of a fired shot to signal said microcontroller toinitialize a low power mode to activate said MEMS accelerometer fasterthan said accelerometer would activate by itself. The wake up circuitcan be configured as but is not limited to a normally closed G switch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1. is a block diagram of the circuitry of the module of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are operational software diagram of the microcontrolleroperation of the module of the present disclosure in which:

FIG. 2A the operational flow chart for the detection of a shot beingfired and

FIG. 2 B shows the operational flow chart of data being transmittedabout the fired shot that was detected;

FIG. 3A is a illustration of the MEMS Sensor deflection under given GLoad vs. time of the shot;

FIG. 3B is a graph illustrating G force due to a shot fired versus time;

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded view of one embodiment of a handgun gripattachment of the module of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded view of another embodiment of anattachment of the module of the present disclosure to a barrel of a firearm;

FIG. 6 illustrates a rotational measuring direction in which a firearmwill twist in the direction of the rifling as the bullet expands andengages the groves in the rifling as the bullet is fired; and

FIGS. 7-9 illustrate another embodiment of the present disclosure inwhich a wake up circuit is utilized in with the microcontroller and theaccelerometer in which:

FIG. 7 is a block diagram similar to FIG. 1 showing the wake up circuitas a part of the circuitry of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are operational software diagram of the microcontrolleroperation of the module of the present disclosure showing the wake upcircuit in which:

FIG. 8A shows the operational flow chart for the detection of a shotbeing fired and

FIG. 8 B shows the operational flow chart of data being transmittedabout the fired shot that was detected; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the operational direction for thepresent disclosure with the wake up circuit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings of FIGS. 1-9, FIG. 1 is a block diagram ofthe circuit of the module 5 of the present disclosure.

The module 5 can be battery powered by way on non-limiting exemplaryillustration, a lithium battery 3-such as a 3.6 V lithium battery. Thecircuitry of module 5 can be mounted on a printed circuit (PC) board 6.The circuitry of the module 5 includes a microcontroller 7 programmed tooperate the module 5, a MEMS accelerometer 8, an RF 2 module or anyother preferred serial communications link that can transmit by RS 232standard, Bluetooth, or awave and a flash memory or other suitablenon-volatile memory such as an EE Prom 10.

The microcontroller 7 controls the operation of the module 5. Theaccelerometer 8 is in the plane of firing of the firearm and providesand measures the actual G force of each round fired by the firearm. Themicrocontroller 7 converts the analog output of the accelerometer 8 to adigital recorder. The microcontroller 7 interrogates or periodicallysamples the accelerometer 8 at its output, preferably every 10milliseconds. If the samples taken by the microcontroller 7 exceed apredetermined threshold a shot is counted by the microcontroller 7. Themicrocontroller then continues sampling until the accelerometer outputfalls below the threshold level at which point the time and profile ofthe shot is recorded.

The data for the shot profile is stored in the EEPROM 10 or other flashmemory. It is then transmitted remotely to a remote location such as aremote computer terminal via a serial communications device such as theRFID device 2, which converts the flash memory data into a serial formatconforming to RS 232 standard, Bluetooth or awave for transmission tothe remote computer station. The flash memory 10 includes instructionsat every command back to start to prevent the firearm unit to which themodule 5 is attached from being lost

The accelerometer 8 is a two axis MEMS accelerometer and is in the planeof firing and it provides and measures the active G force of the shotfired by the firearm. The shot profile information collected willinclude the recoil and. rotation of the barrel due to the shot. The datawill continue be collected until the acceleration level falls below thethreshold programmed. At this point, the number of shots fired istallied up and recorded for this round. In addition to recoil sensordata, duration and shots counted, the type of round fired is identified,and the time and profile of the shot fired is recorded and transmitted.

One type of MEMS accelerometer that can be used is ANALOG DEVICESAD22283-B-R2. The microcontroller can be a MSP430F12321DW(SOWB) or anMSP430F12321PW(TSSOP). The Flash memory can be ATMELATT25F2048N-10FU-2.7. It is understood that the present disclosure isnot limited to any particular cards and the above are listed asnon-limiting illustrative examples.

The present disclosure further includes a charge pump (not shown) forraising the battery voltage to the necessary power to operate the MEMSaccelerometer 8. The remote computer terminal will have computersoftware package that resembles the data from the module 5 and logs itinto a file to be input to an EXCEL spread sheet where it can bedisplayed as a bar graph or raw data. By way of non-limitingillustrative example, commercially available RF transmitter chip setscan be used with firmware to permit the RF chips to communicate with aremote location such as but not limited to a wireless PDA.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrates the firmware of operation of themicrocontroller 7 for the module 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 isa first flow chart illustrating the detection of a shot with the presentdisclosure. In step 102 upon a shot being fired the microcontrollerinitializes the processor low power mode (step 102). A timer is set asnoted in step 103 for the accelerometer. This step takes place for theaccelerometer in step 104. Sleep mode for the accelerometer is enteredinto in step 105. Has the set up time expired as asked in step 106, ifnot return to sleep mode (step 105), if yes got to step 107 and chargepump on the accelerometer voltage that is converted in step 108 and ifit is at the correct voltage level as checked in step 109 then theaccelerometer output is converted in step 111. If it is not the rightlevel it is checked again in step 109. If the accelerometer meets theminimum level in step 112, then the data is incremented (step 113) andstored in an eeprom (step 114).

After ½ milliseconds (step 115) the output of the accelerometer isconverted (step 116) and checked against the minimum (step 117) then thedata is incremented (step 118) and stored in an eeprom (step 119) andafter a wait for ½ milliseconds (step 120) the counter is incremented(step 121) and returns to sleep mode step (105).

In FIG. 2B data is sent by first initializing the communication port(corn port) step in 122 and then getting the stored eeprom data step 123and then outputting the data to the port in step 124. Step 125 is outputdelimiter for delimiting the data output in step 124. The data counteris decremented in step 126 and if the counter is at zero thecommunication port (corn port) is disabled in step 128. If the counteris not zero then the data is secured from the eeprom in step 123.

FIG. 3A shows the MEMS Sensor deflection under given G Load vs. time ofthe shot.

FIG. 3B illustrates the shot profile date that can be graphed from theinformation obtained by the module 5 of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a partially exploded view of the module 5 as part of anattachment to the pistol grip of a handgun in one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a partially exploded view of the module 5 as part of anattachment to the barrel of a firearm in another embodiment of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 5 shows a shot counter housing 51 for the selfcalibrating shot counter weapon of the present disclosure having a railmount 52 that is used for mounting accessories. The module 5 is shownand as can be seen in FIG. 5, a lithium battery 3, a microcontroller 7and an MEMS accelerometer 8 are mounted thereon. A rail mount 56 for theself calibrating weapon shot counter of the present disclosure is shownas by way of non-limiting illustrative example a Picatinny Rail mount 56having a recess 2 a for placing the rail mount on a barrel of a firearm.

FIG. 6 shows the rotational measuring direction, the firearm will twistin the direction of the rifling as the bullet expands and engages thegroves in the rifling as the bullet is fired. It is necessary to takethis measurement in account to determine the different caliber andweight of bullets fired. FIG. 6 shows the direction of travel whenfirearm is discharged (shown as 61); the grooves 62 in rifling twist toright as they pass down the barrel; the bullet-projectile, the frontsight at 12 o'clock position zero degrees before cartridge ignition 42;the negative or return direction after firing 65; and the rotationaldirection when rifling is twisted to the right 66.

FIGS. 7-9 describe another embodiment of the present disclosure in whicha wake up circuit is added. As seen in FIG. 7, the wake up circuit 80(FIG. 9) serves to resolve the problem when an accelerometer does notwake up fast enough to capture the entire energy pulse, a common problemassociated with off the shelf accelerometers. The wake up circuit can bea normally closed G switch (gravity switch) with a quicker response thanthat of the accelerometer 8 employed in the present disclosure. The Gswitch 80 also provides for power conservation due as it is amechanically triggered switch. Upon detecting a shot fired the G switchor wake up circuit switches from its normally closed state to an openstate and transmits a signal to the micro controller (see FIG. 9). Themicrocontroller sends a signal to the accelerometer to initialize theprocess low power mode thus turning the accelerometer on. Theaccelerometer sends data to the Microcontroller and which sends theinformation via RF transceiver to a smart phone, hand held reader or apersonal computer (PC) (FIG. 9). The microcontroller determines the modeof data transfer: There are three modes of transfer: In MODE 1, themicrocontroller gathers the data on board and goes back to sleep waitingfor a prompt from a reader or PC to down load data. In MODE 2, themicrocontroller sends data after every shot to a smart phone, PC toattach GPS location from the cell phone and text weapon use, positionlocation to a preset number for the purpose of providing automatic shotnotification. MODE 3 is the engineering mode where the microcontrollersends data which is of the entire accelerometer signature to a smartphone or PC. FIG. 8 shows the wake up circuit step which when switchedto an open state from its normally closed state proceeds to intializethe processor low power mode.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrates the firmware of operation of themicrocontroller 7 for the module 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 9A isa first flow chart illustrating the detection of a shot with the presentdisclosure. In step 101, the wake up circuit which is normally closed,is set to open upon detection for a shot being fired (step 101). Thewake up circuit causes the microcontroller to initialize the processorlow power mode (step 102). A timer is set as noted in step 103 theaccelerometer. This takes place for the accelerometer in step 104. Sleepmode for the accelerometer is entered into in step 105. Has the step uptime expired as asked in step 106-if not return to sleep mode (step105), if yes go to step 107 and charge pump on the accelerometer voltageis converted in step 108 and if it is at the correct voltage level aschecked in step 109 then the accelerometer output is converted in step111. If it is not at the right level, it is checked again in step 109.If the accelerometer meets the minimum level in step 112 then the datais incremented (step 113) and stored in an eeprom (step 114).

After ½ millisecond (step 115) the output of the accelerometer isconverted (step 116) and checked against the minimum (step 117) then thedata is incremented (step 118) and stored in an eeprom (step 119) andafter a wait for ½ milliseconds (step 120) the counter is incremented(step 121) and returns to sleep mode step (105).

In FIG. 9B data is sent by first initializing the communication port(com port) step in 122 and then getting the stored eeprom data step 123and then outputting the data to the port in step 124. Step 125 is outputdelimiter for delimiting the data output in step 124. The data counteris decremented in step 126 and if the counter is at zero thecommunication port (com port) is disabled in step 128. If the counter isnot zero then the data is secured from the eeprom in step 123.

While presently preferred embodiments have been described for purposesof the disclosure, numerous changes in the arrangement of method stepsand apparatus parts can be made by those skilled in the art. Suchchanges are encompassed within the spirit of the invention as defined bythe appended claims.

1. A shot device for recording and transmitting shot profile data ofshots fired from a fire arm, comprising: a microcontroller operatedmodule affixed to a fire arm, said module comprising a MEMSaccelerometer for measuring the G force of each round fired by thefirearm, a non volatile memory for storing the shot profile data thatincludes shot count and recoil data a serial communication device fortransmitting said stored shot profile data to a remote location via anRF signal.
 2. A shot device for recording and transmitting shot profiledata of shots fired from a fire arm, comprising: a microcontrolleroperated module affixed to a fire arm; said module comprising a MEMSaccelerometer for measuring the G force of each round fired by thefirearm, a non volatile memory for storing the shot profile data thatincludes shot count and recoil data a serial communication device fortransmitting said stored shot profile data to a remote location via anRF signal; and a wake up circuit adapted to switch upon detection of afired shot to signal said microcontroller to initialize a low power modeto activate said MEMS accelerometer faster than said accelerometer wouldactivate by itself.
 3. The device according to claim 1 wherein said wakeup circuit is a normally closed G switch.